Field Museum lands Russian meteorite

(Credit: Karen Bean, The Field Museum) (Car dashboard video of Chelyabinsk meteorite) The Chelyabinsk meteorite was 24,250,848 pounds when it hurtled to Earth on February 15, injuring 1,500 people. It was the largest space object to hit the Earth since 1908, and parts of it will be on display at The Field Museum starting Wednesday,

The Chelyabinsk meteorite was 24,250,848 pounds when it hurtled to Earth on February 15, injuring 1,500 people. It was the largest space object to hit the Earth since 1908, and parts of it will be on display at The Field Museum starting Wednesday, April 10, museum officials said today.

Collector Terry Boudreaux donated pieces of the Chelyabinsk meteorite to the Field Museum, which will be available for scientists to study.

With approximately 6,500 pieces of meteorite in the Field’s Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics, the museum has the largest non-governmental meteorite collection in the world.

Beyond the meteorite’s size and speed, the collision revealed to the rest of the world that Russian drivers have video cameras on their cars, many of which captured the fireball hurtling to the ground.